Gail Tsukiyama's The Color of Air

How pleased I was to discover that Gail Tsukiyama is still writing. She used to be a go to author for me when I was leading book discussions at the library. "The Language of Threads" and "The Samurai's Garden" particularly come to mind. But she has been busy, teaching and reviewing in her hometown of San Francisco, not to mention serving as Executive Director of a non-profit that addresses such diverse needs as literacy and clean water. http://www.gailtsukiyama.com/

In July a fresh cadre of readers will be able to enjoy Tsukiyama's lovely, lyrical prose in a new historical novel set in early 1900's Hawaii where the Mauna Loa volcano is threatening the bustling port town of Hilo. As the townspeople pray

for the lava flow to turn away from their homes and businesses they reminisce about the passage of time and the memories they've nurtured over the decades, the secrets they've kept, the relationships they've formed, and the loved ones they've lost. In fact, the ancestors are never far away, offering gentle advice and admonishment.

Daniel Abe and his high school girlfriend Maile had once been inseparable, but smart and ambitious, each left the island for college, Daniel all the way to medical school in Chicago. Neither thought they would see each other again yet suddenly here they are back in Hilo, Maile escaping an abusive relationship and Daniel a tragic episode in the emergency room that shook his confidence to its core.

Living back home in the cottage his mother Mariko left to him when she died, Daniel reconnects with the land, with the myriad aunties in the village, and especially with his Uncle Koji, the man who loved and helped raise him after his own father abandoned him and his mother. Daniel has questions for Koji and Koji, compelled now by the threatening lava, has confessions he wants to make to Daniel, hoping he's mature enough to hear them with an open heart.

Tsukiyama, of Japanese and Chinese extraction herself, writes atmospheric fiction that reflects her fascination with the period before and after World War II. In "The Color of Air" she deftly mines the history of the Hawaiian sugar trade which built its success on the backs of Japanese immigrants who came to Hawaii by the thousands as contract laborers, promised housing, transportation, and a chance to become Americans. Finding  their living situations little better than enslavement, second generation Japanese-Americans like Koji risked their lives to foment support for unionization. 

Now, marry these detailed historical facts with Tsukiyama's disparate cast of compelling characters imbued with grace, humor, pride, and resilience and you've got a reading experience to really look forward to!